Autumn Willows on Spencer Creek.

C1693

“Autumn Willows on Spencer Creek”

(Winter Ridge, Oregon Basin & Range)

Oil on Pannelli Telati fine Cotton Panel

6” x 8”

Sold

Trees fall in the forest ... and sometimes without being blown over by the wind, and for no apparent reason.  I have borne witness  to that fact, perhaps three times throughout my life. "Perhaps," because the first time was in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness in 1993, when my brother Doug, and myself heard a crashing, that sounded like you would think a falling tree would sound, on the other side of shallow ravine from us. There was no further sound, so we ruled out a Moose, or a Bear, or any other such large beast. We decided it was what it sounded like ... a falling tree.

The second time was climbing up the bluffs above China Beach, outside of Brookings, Oregon, about ten years ago. I heard a crashing, similar to what Doug and I had heard in the BWCAW. Startled I turned in time to see a large fir falling across the footpath where I had been walking, just seconds before. “Missed me!”, I exclaimed, “Nice try, though.” It got hung up on other trees so that if you ducked a bit, you could still pass under it on the footpath. This tree fell fom the base so its roots were intact, as though it had been blown over, but there was no wind. The incline was steep, and so I surmise it must have been partially uprooted by wind recently, and finally fell when I was there to witness it.

Then last Summer I camped in a secluded clearing 20 some miles west of Klamath Falls, with an extensive Aspen grove along one side of it. One day while I was painting, I heard that crashing sound and looked over to see the undergrowth still shaking. I went to investigate, and found it was a live Aspen, about 6 inches in diameter, and that it hadn't been uprooted, but had just snapped off about four feet above the ground. There was no apparent reason for it to have done so. It wasn't particularly windy. It didn't appear to be rotten, and all its leaves were green. I still have no theory why this Aspen fell.

The Natural World is so interesting, especially out here in the Wilds, but even in the largest cities it can be interesting, if you take the time to notice. I remember the Springtime before I moved from London down to Cornwall. I had just moved into a new bedsit at the top of the house. When I looked out my windows I was looking through a lattice of tree branches to the street below. When I first moved in they were bare Winter branches, and as the days progressed I watches the leafbuds gradually unfurling and growing into full fledged leaves, and the colours changing with the passage of time and maturity. I concentrated on a particular branch and grouping of buds. Besides the leaves, the occasional bird wandered by as well, but unfortunately I have no nesting stories to tell ... perhaps if I'd stayed in that place for several year ... but Cornwall beckoned, and when that opportunity happened, there was no real contest. Looking back, I had stayed in London, probably five years too long.

*****

Spencer Creek is a few miles from the clearing where the Aspen fell over, and in October when I returned to the area, I camped a hundred yards from this scene. It was not as secluded, but was a lovely spot, and deer came through every day.

Three years ago I laid a final coat of White Lead Priming on a bunch of panels. I have two different lead primers; one by Rublev and the other by Williamsburg.  The Williamsburg is quite stiff, and it occurred to me that if I didn't thin it down with mineral spirits this time, I might be able to get an interesting brush stroke texture in this final layer. And so it was. This is the first of those textured panels that I have used, and I quite like the results. However, I think you have'll to be careful in your choice of subject, when using these panels, but I feel this autumnal leafy stream was a good choice. I hope you do too.

Pigments used in the painting were:

Imprimatura & Drawing: Rublev French Red Ochre;

Pigments: W&N Cadmiums Orange & Yellow Pale, Ultramarine Deep Blue;

Rublev:  Blue Ridge Yellow Ochre, French Red Ochre, Orange Molybdate, Lead White #1;

M. Graham: Cobalt Teal;

Michael Harding: Genuine Ultramarine;

Gamblin: Permanent Magenta;

Schmincke: Caput Mortuum.

Autumn in American Basin

C1493

“Autumn in American Basin”

(Colorado Rockies)

Oil Sketch on Ampersand Gesso Panel

4” x 6”

Click here to make this your Own

Back in October I spent more time in the Colorado Rockies than I had intended, since I was waiting for the government shutdown to end and the National Parks to reopen and I didn’t want to move too far west, so as not to miss some of those that I wanted to see; who knows how long it might be before I might pass that way again.  On October 7^th, after three days on the forest road south of Gunnison, I continued south to Lake City and Lake San Cristobal, one of the larger natural lakes in Colorado; about 700 years ago, the Slumgullion Slide came down the mountainside and blocked the Lake Fork of the Gunnison River, thus forming the Lake.  I found a great campsite on the south side of the lake at a county campground at no charge, it being after the season; I was the only one there after my first night, spending 4 of the next 5 nights there. 

After setting up camp on a cliff above the lake, I began a drawing in my sketchbook and finished it the next morning, before exploring up the Lake Fork and eventually ending up at 11,500’ at American Basin.  To get there I had to pass along the scariest two-mile stretch of road I’ve ever driven; a single-lane track cut from mountains-cliffs on the right and shelving off down into a river gorge on the left so deep and narrow the water remained unseen below; I had to keep my eyes on the track ahead, but I kept wanting to look to the left and down.  After 2 miles the cleft broadened out into a pleasant valley, with the river running through it before it plunged into the gorge I’d just driven.  This valley, about 5 miles long, was full of miners and boasted several towns back in the late 1800s.  Now I met a few hunters, one all the way from Alaska, scouting out the deer population before the season opened on the following Saturday. 

A few miles further on I arrived in American Basin just in time to cook supper and settle down for the night.  The temperature was a bit odd in that there was a chill breeze wafting down from the snow field on the basin wall to the south, but the ambient temperature itself must have been higher since I felt warmer in my sleeping bags that night than the first night on the forest road where I had painted the Autumn Cottonwoods; and I was about 2500’ higher in altitude.

 

The next morning I rolled out of my sleeping bags at first light and as the first rays of the Sun touched the mountain spires I began the little Oil Painting above. I was struck be the morning shadow gradually moving down the western flank on the right, as well as the cloud shadows.  The russets and ochres of the Autumn grasses and leafless bushes contrasted nicely with the violets and blues shadowed areas.  I don’t believe any of the snow on the mountain wall is a glacier, but certainly we are in a glacial basin a remnant of at least the last Ice Age, if not at some time since.  A couple of months ago I revisited the painting and glazed in some colour, strengthening the work overall, but especially the shadows, and thus the contrast between the light and shade.  I have signed this work S.T. Johanneson, instead of with just my monogram STJ, thus denoting it to be a complete painting, as opposed to being a sketch or study, and if you have read under the “Stuff” tab that means a higher starting price, as you may have noticed.

I had hoped to attempt to go higher from here up to 12500’-plus, as the track continues steeply up to the right-rear behind our viewpoint, and crosses a high pass, but the snowfalls already occurring in September, had blocked it at that altitude; and Winter is coming (sorry, for a moment I thought I was inside Game of Thrones), by that evening snow was in the forecast, so that afternoon I backtracked down the desperate road, only passing one vehicle on the scary two-mile stretch (luckily we met at a passing spot), and on below to my campsite on its cliff above the lakeside.  There I awaited the snow and watched it gently fall over 36 hours; it only accumulated about 4” as it was warm enough to melt a certain amount as it landed; I was hoping for more. 

No imprimatura, and the pigments used were: Yellow Ochre, a touch or two of Cadmium Orange, Venetian Red, a little Sap Green, Cobalt Blue, and Cremnitz & Titanium Whites.

Even though I have more Colorado paintings to come, tomorrow’s post will show my first red rock painting in Utah.

Aspens along the Forest Road

C1492

“Aspens along the Forest Road”

(San Juan Mountains, Colorado Rockies)

Oil Sketch on Ampersand Gesso Panel

4” x 6”

SOLD

The next day on the Sunday, October 6^th, 2013, I drove up to altitude to the Powderhorn Lakes Trailhead.  On the way back down I explored a couple of side roads and in the afternoon decided to have a go at the Aspens with paint.  The Aspens seem to be a bit yellower than the more orange Cottonwoods, and there were more brushes of an almost Spring-green on most of the trees.  This contrasted nicely with the grey-green of the sagebrush in the foreground, as well as the pines, mostly in shadow behind them.  A slightly warmer night last night, and warming up easily in the Sunlight, even though the temperatures would have felt chill in the dampness of say Cornwall in England, where I lived for many years, or west of the Cascade Range in Oregon, where I’ve resided for the past ten years.  It is so nice to experience a dry cold again like in my youth. 

Pigments used were: Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow & Cadmium Yellow Pale, Venetian Red, Burnt Sienna, Cobalt Blue, a bit of Cerulean, a little Sap Green (Permanent), Cremnitz and Titanium Whites; all from Winsor & Newton except for the Sap Green which I believe was either M. Graham or Gamblin (sorry, but my colour box is out in my truck).

First Oil Sketch of the Journey

C1491

“Autumn Cottonwoods”

(San Juan Mountains, Colorado Rockies)

Oil Sketch on Ampersand Gesso Panel

4” x 6”

Click here to make this your Own

I left Oklahoma at 23:30 on September 29^th last year and headed for Salida, Colorado, via Tucumcari, New Mexico; for those Spaghetti Western buffs out there, Tucumcari is where Lee Van Cleef gets of the train at the beginning of, “For a Few Dollars More.”  Thus began my meandering route back to Oregon from Oklahoma where I had been staying with family for a while.  I then spent 4 lovely days in Salida, Colorado visiting old friends Dan & Lee, and Edgrrrrr the dog (Edgrrrrr actually has a grin when greeting one he likes … a bit toothie, but a grin nevertheless).  Dan & I graduated from High School together, back in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula and in another century (do you hear those creaking bones?).   This Oil Sketch was painted back on October 5th after leaving Salida.  The golds & russets of Autumn were stunning, especially when set against the deep forest greens of pine and fir covered slopes, as I made my way through intermittent snow-showers in the San Juan Mountains, and over the Monarch Pass, at somewhat over eleven thousand feet (if I remember correctly).  Later after passing through Gunnison and turning South on Hwy 149, I spotted a forest road leading to the Powderhorn Lakes Trailhead and setup my first camp some miles down that road.  A lovely clear night and the temperature dropped into the teens (Fahrenheit), but it was a dry cold and I remained toastie in my sleeping bags.  The next morning I painted this Oil sketch, the first of the Journey; the inaugural work for those to come.

Sometimes there is a fine line between a Sketch, and those deemed to be what I would call a Painting.  Usually it’s a matter of completeness, meaning good Design, or Composition, Value & Colour, and perhaps surface finish that causes a work to be considered a Painting.  Sometimes … many times … it is intent, as in this case; it almost becomes a Painting, and there are those who will consider it so to be, but for me the intent was a Sketch, and so it shall remain.

For those tech-heads out there, the pigments used were Yellow Ochre, Cadmium Yellow, Venetian Red, Cobalt Blue, a bit of Cerulean, Cremnitz and Titanium Whites; all from Winsor & Newton. 

Tomorrow I will post another Colorado Oil Sketch; it could be a couple of days or so.